He'll always have her back
by Madrianne
Summary: Collection of one-shot-stories where Kate is psychically and mentally hurt and/or vulnerable. Jack gives her his helping hand and these more or less traumatic events make things better between them. Some of the stories will be based on the canon and some of them will be born in my head :D If you're a Jater, I'm sure you'll love it.
1. Chapter 1

Ok, so as the description says, this "fanfic" will be a collection of one-shots based on hurt&comfort idea, where Kate needs Jack's help. I have a great love for Lost and Jate (and I have kind of "Kate sick-Jack care" fetish) since early 2000s, when I was 8 or 9 :D Now I decided to turn this love into creative activity and improving my writing in English skills. It's not my national language, so please, forgive me some mistakes and tell me, if you notice mistakes which need my attention and work on.

I'm also kindly asking for your reviews! I'm very interested in what each one of you who'll read it think about these stories.

So, the first one is set on 2x09, "What Kate Did". It's kind of my answer for the question: what would have happened if Kate hadn't run from the hatch when she was attacked by Sawyer (or Wayne in Sawyer's body).

Jack, followed by the unexcited Locke, hurried into the bedroom, worried sick. He was scared and was feeling extremely guilty. He knew he shouldn't leave Kate alone in the hatch, pale and visibly exhausted. He knew something was not alright. But when he asked her is she okay, she just cut him off. At the time he thought that maybe it has something to do with her past and melancholic moods, which she has tendencies to. He was aware of the fact that she won't tell him anything unwillingly, so he's just let it be and left.

Now he was staring in shock at the surprising scene in the bedroom. Sawyer was lying in the middle of the room, unconscious and shaking slightly. Next to him was Kate. She was breathing extremely heavily and Jack could heard small whimpers and sobs between each one of her short, painful breaths. She seemed to be even paler than she was when he left her in the morning. Jack examined the area around Kate and noticed a strange mess next to her. She had vomited, probably a few times. And she was visibly vulnerable, that was the fact which shocked him the most. Jack knew that Kate has her soft and sensitive side, but until now he has never ever, even whey they opened the case, seen her like this.

That moment of shock, surprise and overwhelming concern lasted no longer than second or two. Then Jack pulled himself together and instinctively turned his doctor mode on. He had two patients to work on and now he had to decide, which one needs his help first.

The professionalist in him knew that he should do otherwise, but he ran to Kate's side first nonetheless.

\- John! – he yelled, crouching next to her. His hands found Kate's shaking shoulders and landed on them gently while he turned his head to Locke's direction. – Is Sawyer breathing?

Locke was moving his hand along James's neck, trying to find a pulse. At the certain point he stopped and held his hand still.

\- Yeah, and I can feel a pulse!

\- Okay. Now get him back to the bed and see if you can make him drink some water, he probably just fell. – Jack spoke calmly, but forcefully. He will check on James later. Now he had to tend to Kate, he had to know what had scared her so much… She was looking around frantically, her eyes never focused on anything. Her breathing wasn't any better and he started to worry that she will pass out.

\- Kate – he said quietly, keeping his voice quiet and gentle. He was trying to make an eye contact with her, but she was still moving her head ever so rapidly. – What happened? Kate! – he called her a little louder, when she didn't react.

She finally stopped shaking her head and looked on him unsure.

\- Jack… - she managed to say and almost immediately went into deep hyperventilation. Her breathing was even worse and her sobs and tears streaming down her checks wasn't making the situation better for both of them. Jack understood that he can't go slow any longer if he didn't want to have second unconscious person in the room. He quickly moved his left hand from Kate's shoulder to her cheek and spoke to her urgently, still trying to keep his voice gentle.

\- Kate, listen to me, listen. You're hyperventilating. Whatever has happened before, right now you're safe and you need to calm down, okay? Just try to take some slow, deep breaths through your nose, okay? Just like so – he demonstrated and breathe in deep, however he was extremely nervous himself and found it difficult. He wasn't even aware of the fact that his hand is caressing Kate's check and brushes of her hair which freed himself from her bun.

Finally, she listened and Jack could have cried with relief. Right now she wasn't an extremely serious medical case, but something in the way he felt about her made him unable to watch her like this.

\- Good, that's good – he coached while Kate was taking still painful, but quite deep breaths. – Take one more deep breath, not so quickly, good. One more time, okay? It's okay. – Kate was trying to breathe the way Jack showed her and Jack was constantly whispering some comforting words which actually didn't have any sense.

Kate took a few breaths when she finally felt able to speak.

\- Jack – she whimpered weakly, and her unnatural tone made Jack concerned even more. – I..I… c-can't b-be here. Please, take me away, please. – Jack was about to argue and convince her that she's safe and she needs to calm down a little bit until she can be moved, but then he noticed that her breathing quickened again and her silent begging for help made his heart clenched. Jack didn't know why, but he had an unclearly idea that her state has something to do with Sawyer. But what, for God's sake? He couldn't abuse, harass or even insult her in the state he himself was in…

\- Okay – he said softly, touching his cheek, while his other hand was rubbing her back. – How about the living room, would you be comfortable here? – Kate nodded slightly and looked at James. Second later she took another short, quick, unhealthy breath.

\- Good. Do you think that you can walk? – Another nod. Jack took Kate in gentle embrace and quickly helped her up, hoping that she won't fall into catatonic state again. He took her hand and turned it around his neck and his right hand embraced her waist. Jack also hoped that walking would help Kate focus on something else than her mysterious trauma and it will improve her breathing too. They began slowly walking to the door and Jack give John, who was still at Sawyer's side, a questioning look.

\- I think he's fine for now – Locke said. He managed to throw Sawyer on bed and cover him. James was sleeping and it looked like his sleep was quite peacefully. Jack nodded and instantly felt a tight grip on his shoulder. He turned his head to face Kate. She was desperately holding into him and the unimaginable fear in her eyes made Jack uncomfortable. He quickly shaked himself off. He couldn't let his emotions have the control on him. Right now, he had to take care of Kate, get her to calm down and make sure that she is psychically fine.

\- It's okay, come on. It's okay – he murmured to her. His thumb was making soothing circles on her left side.

He led her to the living room and help her lay on the sofa. To his surprise, she didn't argue. He knew he had to examine her, due to her breathing problems and vomiting. He was thinking about going to the kitchen and look through his medical bag, where he had a thermometer and a few things that could possibly make his diagnose more accurate, but he felt that he shouldn't leave her alone. He was also thinking that she's in mental shock and her behaviour is rather not a symptom of some mysterious illness. Instead, he gave her a glass of water which luckily stand on the table next to the sofa. Kate tried to take it herself, but her hand was still shaking so bad that she wasn't able to hold anything. Jack instantly took a glass from her and gently pressed it to her mouth. When she finished drinking he sat next to her and pressed his finger to her wrist, taking pulse. It was still too quick.

\- Kate – he said quietly, leaning over her. She winced and whimpered softly, it looked almost like she was afraid of him. He felt hurt for a second, but respected her needs and came back to the sitting position. – Can you tell me what happened? What made you so frightened? Has anyone come in here, hurt you or…

She hasn't been crying for a few minutes now, but a single tear streamed down her cheek a moment after Jack asked her.

\- This island makes me crazy, I… I dunno, it's driving me nuts – she sobbed. Jack put a careful hand or her shoulder and left it there as she didn't flinch.

\- Okay, it's okay, it's alright. It's alright – he reassured her. His voice has shaken a little.

\- S-sawyer – he continued. – H-he was trying to kill me. He strangled me… although – she stopped for a moment, staring into space – it w-wasn't him. It was my father, he was screaming… yelling some horrible things – she began to cry unconsolably.

Before he could even think, Jack gently lifted her up and hugged her. Kate didn't hug him back, but wasn't protesting either. While holding Kate and rubbing her back thoughtlessly, he was trying to decide what to do next. He was so confused. Was it possible that Sawyer did something to her when he was so badly injured? He doubted it. And Kate was saying that in fact, it was her father… What horrible things? Did he hurt her before? Jack felt anger rising inside him, but he didn't even know this man…

Jack didn't believe in destiny and all of these weird Locke's ideas, but he knew that some things and events, which are impossible in the normal world are absolutely possible, even normal in this godforsaken island.

She could have been right. She also could have a short-time mental breakdown due to her exhaustion and general situation.

Right now, Jack decided to hold onto the second version.

\- Okay – he said for the hundredth time that day, letting her go and helping her lay back down. He decided to deal with Kate the same way he was dealing with traumatized patients during his training in the ER, the ones after accidents or crime attacks. – It's alright now. Just try to get some sleep, okay?

Unexpectantly, Kate put her hands on Jack's checks. He froze, completely unsure what to do. She put herself closer to him – how funny it was, considering the fact that five minutes earlier she was frightened when he leaned over her.

Kate visibly tries to pull herself up, but was unable to do so. Before Jack had any chance to react, she fell into deep though restless sleep.

What she wanted to do, slap him? Shout something in his face? Kiss him? He didn't knew that. But Jack did knew that watching her sleep and protecting her is his priority now.

Still confused, he sat on the chair nearby and watched her. No matter what happens when she wakes up, he will always be there for her.


	2. Chapter 2

I came back to this idea after many months. Thank you so much for your reviews! You really made my days. Please tell me what's your opinion on this. Should I continue? I thought of it as of 2-3 shot.

Scene I. Shock.

Suddenly, the green landscape of the jungle has changed into grey and dim scenery of the hatch. The second thing Jack notices in the silence. There's no birds singing or trees moving, only deadly, dangerous and unnerving silence. It did not last long, however, as the next thing that Jack percept is John Locke's scream.

"It is wide open, he's not there". The bold man looks Jack in the eye. He can see uncontrolled anger, so damn characteristic for Jack, mixed with uncharacteristic fear, almost panic. He is not panicked because of the Henry Gale' escape though. He is because less than 40 minutes ago, he learned that Kate went from the beach to the hatch herself, while temporarily there wasn't anyone else, as it was only half on hour from the last button alarm and all men who know about Henry Gale were occupied. Most of all, he is because Kate didn't know about failure in the armory. Two days ago they've found out that doors of it opens automatically each time someone enters the hatch. And if that someone doesn't know about it, he'll be easily attacked by Henry Gale, because all Henry Gale wants to do is to run away and come back to his ruthless friends. Jack doesn't know what they, what he is capable of, if speaking about unprepared woman. Brave, stubborn and perfect in guns' using, but still surprised and probably unarmed.

Jack hears some weird ringing in his ears, something he hadn't since his few first surgeries at St Sebastian. But he quickly snapped out of this. He could not let his feelings affect his actions, not when Kate's safety is the matter.

"John, you go, chase him into the jungle" – he says as quickly as he never thought he could. "We will be searching the hatch for Kate"– Jack adds, and he doesn't even have to look at Sawyer, who is standing at his left, and momentarily begins to inspect rooms with gun in his hands. Doc takes his own too and begin to look through the corridors. In any other situation, he would never let Locke go for such an important mission for all of them alone. But now he gave that thought only one second and has immediately come back to the thought of Kate. Kidnapped, beaten, or maybe…

"Kate! Kate!" he yells, making rounds around the hatch. Again, he shouldn't do that, as there is still a possibility that Henry Gale didn't escape and he could hear him, could be preparing for an attack, whatever.

But he is too scared to think completely clearly.

And then, he hears it.

Soft cry, some kind of a whimper. Whimper of someone hurt and frightened, who does not want to be found, but suffers so much that cannot help himself but cry silently.

Jack tightens his grip on the gun and looks around, wondering where is the source of the sound. He knows that the source is Kate, but the vision of her so distressed and probably injured is too disturbing to think about it. He repeats Kate's name, but in a quiet and gentle manner this time. Walking slowly towards the bathroom, Jack hears the whimpers louder and louder. And finally…

There she is, sitting on the floor, rolled almost into a ball. She is not crying with tears, but her face expression looks like she is. Staring into the space before her, but Jack from his position on her right could see that she has black eye and there's a blood running from her forehead.

He feels that anger inside him is dangerously rising. If he finds Gale, he'll kill him.

"Kate!" he yells once again, running to her side. Not thinking much, he lays a hand on her cheek, the one which doesn't look hurt. He has to find Sawyer and make him find the medical bag. This cut on the forehead doesn't look good, it will probably need stitches…

Suddenly Kate, still curled, pushes herself away and distance herself from Jack. She obviously can't walk, but tries to be as far from him as possible anyway.

"No, no, no" – she repeats in squeaky, broken voice. "A-alone, just leave me alone".

Jack studies her for a moment, trying to understand what he just heard. Is it really Kate's voice? Is it Kate on the first place?

"Did he hit you?" he asks in some weird tone. Compilation of anger, desperation and attempted gentleness towards Kate.

"No, just leave me" came reply. Jack keeps his hand in the air, unsure what to do.

"Kate, it's okay" – he offers, examining the rest of her body with his eyes. "Just let me…"

He stops at the certain point of her left side between her pelvis and upper abdomen. There's no anger anymore in him, now it is just clear fear. She has blood on her shirt. A lot of blood, and the red stain becomes bigger and bigger.

"Kate" – he repeats in confusion, immediately changing his side and pressing his hand to the injury, hoping to stop the bleeding. He feels her body tremble beneath his fingers, but he cannot think about it now. Most of all, Jack can't let her bleed out on that corridor.

"No, please" – Kate whimpers again, trying to push his hand away. Jack takes her small hand in his and continues to make a pressure on the wound by his second one. He barely felt her touch before, but even if she can't stop him from saving her, he can't have her thinking that he is attacking her. Because high amount of stress would only making the bleeding worse, but most of all because he don't want her to think of him as someone who is hurting her any longer.

"Kate, it's me, it's Jack" he says, looking her in the eye. He is speaking quietly and as gentle as he can, but still this overwhelming fear could be heard in his voice. "I'm not going to hurt you, but you're in shock and you're bleeding. Let me help you, please"

She slowly lets go of Jack's hand, and he immediately lays it on his right hand on her wound, increasing the pressure.

"Jack?" Kate asks weakly, looking around. She is wandering with unseeing eyes and Jack can say that she'll pass out from the shock and debilitation in a second.

"Yeah, it's me" Jack answers, smiling to her nervously. "And you can help me out a little, okay?" he continues, hoping that making her occupied with something will prevent her from passing out. "Just hold your hand right there and press with me". He puts her hand on his own and covers it by his second one. He didn't want her to have contact with her own blood, it could easily scare her even further, but that way she will have something to hold and concentrate on. "I will call Sawyer to help us, okay?"

Kate nods as she is trying to sit more straight. _She came back to the reality and has probably started to feel pain. And she's trying to take control of the situation,_ Jack thought. If her condition wasn't so serious, he would probably be amazed by her stubbornness. But right now he is still feeling that her body is shaking and he could say that she is dazed, not quite sure why and where she actually is.

"Sawyer!" – he yells, noting that Kate flinched at the rising voice, despite the fact he warned her first. "I've found her!"

Jack hears James' quick steps. When he has finally reached them, he stopped for a second, taking the situation in, both relief and concern visible on his face. He was looking for Kate for all this time I was with her, doctor realised. But this whole long, scaring moments in fact lasted no longer than a minute or two.

"Is she okay?" Sawyer asks Jack, standing next to him and Kate, evidently not sure what to do, crouch next to them or move away. "What the hell did they do to you, Freckles?" he turns to Kate, as all he received from Jack was only slight shake of his head. James' voice is full of desperation, concern and helplessness, something Jack never expected to hear from Sawyer. But right now he's happy that the Southerner is here with them. Jack is a man and a doctor, but even if he doesn't admit it to himself, he thinks that his own fear could easily interrupt him in helping Kate if there wasn't anyone else to help.

"Jack, what", Sawyer starts again, but Jack shakes him off. He also wants to know what happened and who he actually should kill for attacking Kate in such a brutal way, but now she's definitely not in shape to giving them any of those information.

"It's not a gunshot wound" doc says to calm Sawyer down a little. "It looks like… like someone hit the area with some dull thing" he explains, feeling that his anger has come back for good. "Go and check whether my medical bag is at the bedroom, I will also need needles to make stitches. And when you done with it, you… you go and find Locke. Find Gale with him and shoot him right to the hell!"

"Shut the hell up, doc. She's trembling"


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys!

I know that it took me many moths to continue with this story :D Thank you for your kind reviews! It means a world to me. This is a next episode of the story I started on chapter 2. There will be one more chapter of it (soon or later :D) and then I will start with the new story.

Please tell me about your impresions and opinions. There's no much dialogue, but I like to imagine and write down what Jack or Kate would have feel in certain situation... How do you feel about it?

I'm so happy that there's still a few who remember about Jate and whole Lost universe 3 See you!

Scene II. Comfort before the night comes

Sawyer' words resounded in the hatch and then there it is again.

This deadly silence.

It felt good for Jack, to yell and express all of his anger. But after one second of being relieved, he feels the weight of this silence and the pang of guilt gets to him. He turns to Kate, their hands still intertwined together on her wound. And he sees that in fact she is trembling, nevermind not beneath his fingers this time. What's trembling is her chin and what is scaring Jack the most is the fact that she eventually has tears in her eyes.

He is still angry – with himself, with Henry Bloody Gale, maybe even with Kate. She came to the hatch herself, despite the fact she knew about the danger prisoner after all. But he knows that he can't let anger get into his actions, because _it's Kate._ Because he has a thing for her and because he would never manage her injured, disoriented and crying at the same time. Sarah, yes. But it's so weird to take care of vulnerable version of Kate, even if he always wanted to do so, only not in such circumstances.

The second passes and so are the thoughts in the Jack head. Sawyer is still looking at him with annoyed yet concerned expression on his face.

Kate breaths heavily and for the first time since he found her, she is looking Jack in the eye. He can see that she asks him for mercy, for not hurting her, and somewhere much deeper – also for taking care of her.

She still believes that he could hurt her in any second. What did they do to her, to make her believe in such an absurd?

No, Jack cannot go there any further. His anger cannot affect Kate.

"I'm sorry. I promise you it's going to be okay" he says. It sounds a bit like he is trying to convince himself, but when he promises her, he sounds confident. Like always. Jack' promises is something to count on. "James, you… you need to find this bag and all of the materials for stitches. It's all in the bedroom". Sawyer nods and with a little bit of relief, he moves to complete his easier task.

"Stitches?" Kate asks, still confused and visibly frightened, but not in this terrifying, foreign voice. Actually, she sounds a bit like she wants to hide her true emotions and show only slight interest instead.

 _She is afraid of stitches. Of what I am going to do_ , Jack realises. He is surprised and still doesn't know how to proceed with the new Kate. It hurts him to see her like this, it hurts him very much. But for this one short moment – and he won't ever admit this to himself – he thinks that this side of her, being scared of something, is adorable.

"Everything is gonna to be okay" he assures her, with no mockery or laugh in his voice. This "okay" is not only about the stitches and she knows it. The shock slowly leaves her with being broken and usufferably dependent on someone else. But this someone is Jack. And Kate knows that he simply won't use it against her, no matter how odd their relationship have been lately.

She won't cry. She won't.

Jack pulled the needle through her skin one more time. He was fully concentrated on his work, but as painful as the stitching was, his touch on the area around wound was so very gentle. Kate had her head turned in the opposite direction and have not seen his face for a while. She was looking at the white wall of the hatch' bedroom both because she wasn't brave enough to look at her massacred skin and because she didn't want Jack to see her tears if they became to fall. It was a little bit irrational as he saw a lot of her vulnerable side today. Not only she started to cry before Jack and James transported her to the bedroom from cold floor on the corridor, but she also vomited seconds after they laid her down and changed her bloody top for clean white t-shirt. Sawyer instantly assisted to clean the mess and he seemed to be, to Kate's surprise, definitely more concerned than disgusted. He asked Jack is that's a concussion. Jack quietly answered – like he didn't want her to hear that - that probably no, it's rather the consequence of shock. She felt so ashamed of this, like she was some damsel in distress who got "shocked" because she was attacked on the probably most dangerous Island on the world. Nonetheless, not Jack nor Sawyer made any mean comment on this. Jack gave her a glass of water with a straw. Maybe it was her delusion, but she remembered that he stroked her hair while she was drinking. He also told her to not even think about that when she murmured some pathetic apologies for the mess she had made.

Now Sawyer was gone. Jack told him to come back to the beach camp and make sure things in there were fine. He was weird, but the only choice to do so, as Kate was injured, Jack busy tending to her and Locke on his way to find Henry Gale.

One single tear of irrational fear and shame has finally escaped Kate's eye. Just as it did, she felt Jack's hand on her arm.

"Hey" he said – "it's the last one, okay?"

She needed a few seconds to realise he was speaking about stitch. She nodded with a shaky breath and closed her wet eyes as he pulled the needle for the last time and gently left her shirt down. When she opened them she met his brown eyes which seemed concerned and somehow distanced.

"Are you hurt anywhere else? You feel dizzy? Sick?" he asked. That was too much for Kate to analyse, but she shook her head no. She didn't think so. She also didn't feel any pain, only numbness, when Jack felt the area around her wound and checked for any broken ribs. Then he wanted to check her pupils for some unknown sign of neurological okay-ness.

When he directed the light of his small flashlight toward her black eye and asked her to follow it, she suddenly felt the terrible pain. It was the pain of her black eye, of course. But she felt like it was all of her pain from that terrible afternoon – maybe even from the last three miserable years – altogether. She suffered when Jack stitched up her wound, but she still managed to cut off from reality. But now she was feeling literally everything.

Kate didn't even realise when her mouth opened and let a loud, hoarse cry as she rose sharply from her previous lying position. The next thing she felt was Jack' hands on her shaking arms. He leaned over to her, visibly trying to find her haunted gaze. Finally, Kate let herself confront with him and looked him in the eye. To be honest, it was too late to try to be hard – he already saw her tears, heard her cry and feel her shaking. What shocked Kate and gave her some weird sense of comfort at the same time, was the fact that Jack also looked scared. Like he didn't know to proceed anymore. He also didn't look like he was trying to distance himself from Kate's obvious suffering. He was kind and protective towards her since he found her on the floor, but this was the first time when she saw deep compassion and _tenderness_ in his eyes. Yeah, tenderness that was the word. She just continued to look at him, trying to control her own breathing.

"Hey, hey, what happened?" Jack asked, moving his hand to the back of her head. He still looked at her, his gaze full of affection.

"Don't know, I… I… just couldn't take it anymore. Sorry. I was trying" – she spat out. She actually wasn't talking about her eye. Jack probably didn't know that, but he seemed to be touched by her confession anyway.

"Okay, it's okay, it's okay. I just needed to check this out, but I'm done. Won't do anything else, okay?" he said, his tone gentle and somehow desperate at the same time. It reminded her of how he was trying to comfort her that day in the woods when she kissed him. She nooded shakily.

"Let's get you lay down"

She made her lay comfortable again and let go of her second after her back touched the matress. Someone else would probably try to comfort her by the touch, hug, caress. But Jack seemed to understand that she is numb all over and she didn't want this. After all, there wasn't much physical contact in their relationship. They have this spiritual, unspoken connection and now it seemed to be fixed after weeks of misunderstanding.

Jack leaned over Kate once again and laid a careful hand on her hair. He didn't do anything else, he just hold it there.

"Gale… he had to hid in the bathroom . He literally jumped on me… I try to defend myself, I really do. But then he hit me in the face… I lost it. The next thing I remember is blood. And how much I wanted to vomit"

Expression of overwhelming anger ran across Jack's face. Kate could see for a second how hard he was trying to hide it, apparently in an effort to not scare her further.

"Kate" he finally said. His face still seemed angry, but his voice was holding no fury, just gentleness. "I'm fully armed and during night, I will step out from this bedroom only to press the button. I won't leave you alone for more than one minute. If anyone will want to get to you, he's gonna have to kill me first".

After that forcefully and completely honest declaration, he remained silent for a moment.

"I… hope not, but you can have some nausea during night. If you do, you got to told me, alright? I will be on that couch next to the door. We will figure something out to stop that". Kate whispered "yes" and she suddenly realised that Jack's hand was still on her head. She still felt horrible, but this realisation gave her some warmth which spread all over her body. For the first time that day, she didn't feel trapped or endangered.

Semi-safe.

"Just… don't try to cope with it yourself"

Jack stopped as he realised that Kate' eyes are already closed. He let himself caress her hair, only because he knew she won't feel or remember that. Just like when he gave her the water and she seemed to be in self-conscious state.


End file.
